As Sly As A Fox
by McGlitterPawz
Summary: Alexia Hunter has a relatively normal life, excluding the enhanced abilities she owns. That is, until she finds Robin being cornered in an alley in their hometown, Gotham. She can't help falling for everyone's favorite birdbrain, Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice no matter how much I bribe the creators.
1. Hero

~Alex's POV~

| Alex's House, Gotham City  
|June 12, 11:00 p.m.

What is a hero? How do you become a hero?  
Hi. My name is Alexia Hunter. Right now I'm finishing a report on, well, the questions above. I thought for a second then jot down my answers.  
'Done!' I thought.  
I turned off my lamp and went to bed. Luckily for me, I can't sleep. Again. Lately every time I try to fall asleep, I start getting nightmares about a team of 5 teenagers. One I recognize as Robin, my city, Gotham's, very own hero. I see the Atlantean hero, Aqualad, and lastly Kid Flash, Flash's protégé. The other two I don't know, but one has the Superman symbol and the other looks Martian. They are always sparring with eachother or just lounging around, looking bored. Today I see the Martian baking cookies and the 'Superdude' (That's what I'm calling him until I learn his name. Don't judge me.) watching static.  
'Oooh... interesting!' I thought sarcastically. The scene isn't very disturbing- wait a second, if like is the opposite of dislike, is turbing the opposite of disturbing? Sorry. The scene isn't very disturbing, so I actually get sleep. I awaken to a beeping sound coming from my phone. I get up and get changed into my uniform for Gotham Academy. I go down the hall and into the kitchen where my mom, dad, and brothers Leo and Jason (No it's not Jason Todd I named him after Jason Grace from Heroes of Olympus) greet me.

"Good morning Alex. Bagel?" Mom asks.

"Yes please!" I respond cheerfully. I grab the bagel and my backpack then proceed to walk out the door on my way to school. While walking past an alley, I hear a familiar voice yell,

"HELP!" I feel adrenaline rush through me and I run into the alley and find some thug stealing my fellow classmate's money and jewelry.

"Stop! Leave her alone!" I demand. The thug (I'm naming him Marco) turns around to look at me with a look of amusement on his face.

"Oh no! I'm shaking. What ever shall I do?" He responds sarcastically.

"I said leave her alone," I say, starting to get angry with Marco.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do, little girl?" That was the last straw. No one calls me a little girl.

"This," I reply with a smirk. I charge at him and feint a right hook while I sweep his feet out from under him. He is so shocked that I attacked and knocked him over so that he couldn't dodge the kick I sent towards his head and he went unconscious.

"H-how did you d-do that?" My classmate asks.

"I have no idea. Are you okay?" I respond handing her belongings back to her. She takes them with shaking hands and says,

"I'm fine. I'm Barbara by the way. Do you want to walk together to school?" She seems to calm herself down and regains her posture.

"Sure! I'm Alexia, but you can call me Alex."

"You know, Alex, you could totally fight crime or something. I mean you took that guy out in two hits!" Barbara says, starting to walk.

"I guess. That was all adrenaline though," I say, falling into step with her. For a second, when she said that I should fight crime or something, I thought she knew. Oh! I forgot! I actually have a 'super power' if you would even call it that. I have enhanced hearing, sight, strength, and speed. When I say enhanced strength speed and strength, I mean like I'm quicker and stronger than average. Not Flash speed. Not Superman strong. Just above average. I'm also very quick-witted and clever. I have very good vision and I'm able to identify people from at least a mile away. I can also hear things from about a mile away clearly. I definitely needed to be more careful about risking my identity. Anyway, after school was over, I went home and changed into my alias, 'Fox' . After I was changed, I snuck out the window and started wondering around. Using my super-hearing, I heard someone say,

"Robin to the Cave, do you read me? Requesting backup immediately!" from at least a mile away. I ran to the nearest building and climbed up. Then used my enhanced speed to jump across the rooftops until I found the one and only Boy Wonder being trapped by Deadshot. I jumped down from my perch silently and took the two batons off of their straps on my legs and combined them to make a bo staff. I swung it around expertly and sprinted out of the shadows, Robin catching sight of me immediately. Using my instincts, I ducked as Deadshot turns toward me and didn't regret it as he barely missed my head with the butt of his gun. I use the opportunity of being crouched to swing my leg under his but he jumped over it and aimed his gun at my head. I used my enhanced speed and tackled his legs out from under him before he could pull the trigger. While he was on the ground, I kicked him in the head hard enough to knock him out and smiled when he didn't get back up. I went to turn around when I heard a grunt and smacked him in the head with my staff. I leaned down and made sure he was out for good before I cuffed his arms and legs and alerted the authorities to take Deadshot back to Belle Reve. I rushed over to the beaten-up hero and kneeled down next to him.

"Robin! Are you hurt?" I asked.

~Robin's POV~

The girl finished taking down Deadshot and wrapped things up with the police. She seemed to remember me sitting against the wall as she spun on her heel and ran to me.

"Robin! Are you hurt?" She asked with a little giddiness laced in her tone, holding a hand out for me to take. I accepted it gratefully and she pulled me up.

"I'm mostly fine..." I trailed off, not wanting her to have any reason to worry. That didn't work because as soon as I was up and she let go, I felt the pain of the bullet in my side and cried out, starting to fall to the ground in pain. she caught me and her face morphed from excitement to worry and sternness.

"No, you're not. Tell me. Now." I sighed as she put my arm over her shoulders, supporting me. I had to admit, this girl knew what she was doing. Wait, was she...?

"Deadshot, well, shot me dead in the side right here. Haha puns," I motioned with my free arm to my side which didn't feel too great,

"But I'm fine. Hey, you know who I am already. I have to know, are you Fox?" She seemed to smirk a little in pride and tried to quirk an eyebrow but failed so she raised both instead,

"You've heard of me?" I gave the closest thing to a smile that I could muster,

"Oh, yeah. You're all Bats has been on about ever since you took down that Cadmus warehouse." She smiled brightly and said,

"Wow. Wait! You're still injured. You know, and this is only if you want me to, because I'll totally understand if-" I cut her off with a look that said, 'Get to the point.' She cleared her throat and said,

"I can take out the bullet and stitch you up, but only if you want, I'm sure you can just have Batman do it or something..." She trailed off and looked at the ground.

"Fox? Batman's out of town and I would really appreciate it if you could help." She smiled and pulled out a first aid kit from her belt. Looking up at me with a grim face she said,

"This may hurt a little." That was an understatement to say the least. Granted, I've taken beatings way worse than this and I've been shot a few times, but never in my stomach. I have to say though, just like her fighting, Fox knew what she was doing. And I was grateful.


	2. The Team

~Fox's POV~

|Alley, Gotham City  
|June 13, 3:00 a.m.

After I stitched up Boy Wonder, I helped him up and supported him on my shoulder. He looked about my age. I wonder...

"So, are you turbed or do I have to help you 'home?'" I asked, making a quotation sign with my free hand.

"Turbed?" He asked with excitement showing on his face.

"As in the opposite of disturbed?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah! How did you know?!" I asked happily. I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thinks like this.

"Wow. I guess great minds think alike. To answer your question, I'm not feeling the aster," He replied. I nodded and said,

"Now, where to Boy Wonder?"

"Around the corner." I made sure he was going to make it to around the corner and walked over there. As we turned the corner, all that was there was a broken down telephone booth and a stray cat that meowed and then ran over to us and rubbed itself on Robin's leg. I laughed and then looked at Robin who smiled back at me. I held his gaze of where his mask covered his eyes. We were only a few inches apart and if I leaned forward a little bit... no. I looked down and he cleared his throat awkwardly. I gave the ground a goofy grin and blushed bright red. We stood there for a second before his comm went off. He used his free hand to answer it. I used my enhanced hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation. What? I may be on the side of the angels but don't think for one second that I'm one of them. **(Haha. Sherlock references)** A female voice said,

 _"Miss Martian to Robin. Still need backup?"_ He glanced up at me with a small smile before turning back to the telephone booth and saying into the comm,

"Nope. Are the rest of you still there by any chance?" 'Miss Martian' buzzed back with a,

 _"Yeah. Why?"_ Robin smiled mischievously and said back,

"You'll see." He nodded to the telephone booth and I walked over to it, albeit _very_ confused but I trusted him nonetheless.

"I'm good," He said and limped over to the booth, swinging the wood covering it aside and stepping inside.

"Override Robin B-0-1." Suddenly a light came from the booth and scanned Robin.

"Recognized. Access granted." an automated voice said.

"Fox B-0-6." Robin told the computer. He stepped out and pushed me inside. It scanned me.

"Access Granted. Fox B-0-6," It said and I was engulfed in light. When I could see again, I saw that I was standing in a completely different place. In front of me Superdude sat on the couch watching static, and the Martian girl who I assumed was the one, 'Miss Martian' Robin was talking to, was baking cookies. Wow. Talk about a serious case of Deja vu.

"Fox B-0-6," The computer announced. They both turned to me with confused looks on their faces. The Martian dropped her cookies on the floor. Superdude just stared at me with no expression other than confusion.

"Robin B-0-1," The computer announced and I moved out of the way for him to walk in.

"Robin, who is that?" Superdude asked.

"It just announced it over the PA, duh. I thought you had super hearing. Whatever. Team, meet Fox." I smiled sheepishly and the Martian flew over quickly.

"Hello! My name is M'gann, but you can call me Megan. That's my Earth name!" She said happily. I like her automatically. I can be pretty serious and commanding, don't get me wrong, but I'm also actually really optimistic.

"Hey, I'm Fox. Wait-" They already knew that didn't they? Oops. Superdude walks over and shakes my hand firmly.

"Superboy," He says. So close with the names! I must be a mind reader!

"Fox, but you already knew that," I reply smartly. I turn around and see Robin light up with excitement.

"Hey, how about we give you a tour of the cave?" He says. This is cool and all, but I'm now very confused. I just came to help Robin back to his place. I sigh and go to run a had through my hair when I realize it's in a high ponytail. Instead, I awkwardly move it to my shoulder and hope no one noticed.

"Um... You're okay with a girl you just met seeing your base and meeting your team that's all supposed to be a secret?" Robin opens his mouth and then closes it, realizing his slip up. I held my hands up in mock surrender,

"Not that I'd say anything, of course." Robin's face brightens up and he rubs the back of his neck. He laughed nervously and said under his breath so no one could hear him except for himself,

"Bats would kill me." I stifled a laugh and assumed I wasn't the only one with super hearing because of Superboy behind me (duh) and the fact that the ghost of a smile traced his lips. Robin glared at Superboy before turning to me and asking,

"So, tour?"

"Sure. So... is this the base, then?" I ask.

"Yes. Superboy and I live here." Megan says.

"Cool," I say. They show me around. There is a sparring room, bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a hangar where M'gann keeps her Bioship. She asks if we want to fly in it and I'm hesitant.

"What's wrong?" She asks when she sees me hesitate.

"I might be a little afraid of heights..." I start to trail off. Robin puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me a reassuring look.

"Ok, let's go," I say without hesitation. All of the sudden, a yellow and red blur stops in front of me and it turns out to be a boy about 2 years older than me.

"Hey! You're Kid Flash!" I exclaim shocked.

"Finally! Someone got my name right! I like her already," He says. Aqualad appears through the doorway and starts walking over to us all. He spots me and looks taken aback. He stands by Robin and turns to me.

"I'm sorry. I don't think we have met. I am Aqualad."

"Pleasure to meet you Aqualad. The name's Fox," I say calmly while having a seizure on the inside. What can I say? I'm a total fangirl and my three favorite heroes are standing right in front of me. And, I totally just saved my crush's life. What, are you surprised I have a crush on him? He's cute _and_ a superhero. We shake hands and I turn to M'gann,

"Your ship." I motion for her to go first and follow after her, sensing the rest of them behind me. She sits in the center where I assume the controls are. I look around excitedly and run to the front. I quickly plop myself in the front and smile as Robin sits next to me. After everyone is seated I started to wonder where the seatbelts are until one shoots up in an 'x' and straps itself in. I squeal loudly and cover up my mouth, smiling nervously. This entire thing has got me on edge. I _really_ don't like heights. I can hear Robin laugh which I suppose is karma and I send a playful glare towards him,

"Didn't I, a girl with about 3 years less training and no mentor, just have to save you in your own city?" That shuts him up quite efficiently. Kid Flash laughs loudly and says to Robin,

"Dude, she got you!" I turned to him and we high-fived. We flew around the area for a while in the Bioship before it was starting to get late and I asked if we could get back to the Cave so I could zeta back home before my parents got suspicious. Robin and I walked over to the tube where we came in and he punched something into the computer before motioning for me to step into it,

"Fox B-0-6." I see the bright lights again and appear inside the telephone booth. I step out and watch as Robin steps through. I watch and see him limping in such a small manner that only someone with heightened senses could see it *cough* me *cough*. I scrunch my eyebrows in concern and he notices,

"What's wrong?" I blush and say,

"I'm just... worried." I whisper the last part and he hears me.

"About what?" "About you." He freezes and looks down so his hair covers his face.

"Stay out of trouble, birdie. Don't want my beautiful stitching to come out now, do we?" I smile at him and he smiles back before I break our gaze and jump on the top of the building behind me. I turn and give him a fake serious look and nod while giving him a mock salute before waving and grinning. I stand there just long enough to see his face break into a bright smile before I spin on my heel and run across my rooftops, onto the familiar fire escape, and into my room through the window. As I lay in my pyjamas in bed, I smile, thinking of my encounter with Boy Wonder, before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.


	3. Questions

~Alex's POV~

|The Hunter Residence, Gotham City  
|June 14, 6:00 a.m.

After 2 and a half hours of sleep, (Hooray!) I woke to my phone beeping at me. I got changed into my Gotham Academy uniform and grabbed a bagel and my backpack, running outside to meet Barbara across the street.

"Shall we?" She asked, mocking a gentleman and holding her arm for me to loop mine through.

"We shall," I replied with a British accent, looping my arm through hers. We took three steps and then bursted out laughing. We walked to school occasionally having to stop due to the fact that we couldn't stop laughing. When we got there, Barbara left for Science and I set off to Algebra. I walked in and sat down in my seat in the very center of the desks. My partner was already there and when I sat down he smiled. Something about him seemed familiar.

"Hi, I'm Richard Grayson. But please, call me Dick."

"Hi, I'm Alexia Hunter. Call me Alex. Pleasure to meet you, Dick," I responded while shaking his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine," He says. He raises his hand.

"Can I get some water?" He asks when the teacher calls on him. The teacher says yes so Dick gets up and walks over to the water fountain. As I explained earlier, I have super hearing and sight. So, when he got up and started walking to the water fountain, I could see him slightly limping and heard him barely wincing every time he stepped on his right foot. He gets water and sits back down as class starts. Almost the exact same limp as Robin... I almost fell asleep three times because of my lack of sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, Dick would poke me in the arm. The rest of classes after that went by pretty fast until lunch. I sat down at a table and Bette came over to where I was sitting.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Bette asks.

"Go ahead," I said and she sat down across from me. Dick and Barbara walked over and sat down on both sides of me.

"Hey Alex, have you met Dick?" Barbara asks.

"Yeah, we're partners in math," I respond.

"Cool. Oh crap! Bette, don't we have to study for that math test?" Barbara exclaims.

"OMG we do!" Bette replies frantically. Her and Barbara sprint out of the cafeteria to the library, I assume.

"So... as a good friend once asked me, are you feeling turbed?" Dick says.

"Turbed?" I ask with excitement showing on my face,

"As in the opposite of disturbed?"

"Yeah! How did you know?!" He asks happily.

"Wow. I guess great minds think alike. To answer your question, I'm not feeling the aster," I reply. I'm then hit by the obvious resemblance between Dick and Robin. I assume he is too as he gapes at me. We sit in silence for about five minutes before Dick breaks the silence.

"Fox?" He whispers, obviously shocked.

"Robin?" I whisper back.

"Wow, what are the odds that you and I go to school together?" He asks.

"I know right!" I exclaim.

"Hey, Alex, my family holds a Summer Ball every year and I'm allowed to invite 3 people and a date. So, will you go with me as my plus one?" I blushed and looked at the ground.

"I'd like that," I say sheepishly.

"Great! Umm, here's the official invitation. Can't wait!" He says, handing me an envelope and walking away.

"See you later Dick!" I call after him. He waves at me and just about sprints out of the cafeteria. I hear him say,

"Yes!" as he turns the corner.


	4. First Mission

~Fox's POV~

|Caribbean Sea  
|June 22, 8:08 p.m.

I sat in my seat on the Bioship. Inside I was totally freaking out. I guess it showed outside because behind me, I heard Dick say to me,

"Not feeling the aster?" I turn my chair around to face him.

"Not really," I respond looking him in the eyes, or at least where his eyes would be behind his mask. You see, after bumping into him on patrols several times and becoming close friends in school, with approval and a background check from Batsy, he asked if I wanted to join the team. I said yes, of course.

"I'm listening," He responds, indicating for me to tell him why.

"It's my first mission. I mean, sure I've been in combat, but not on a team. Not _this_ team. It doesn't help that I'm extremely afraid of heights," I explain.

"You'll be fine, I promise. You're an amazing fighter, and a completely silent one at that. Plus, we've got your back," He says. I don't know why, but every time he tries to reassure me, it makes me feel safer.

"Thanks Robin," I say.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca," M'gann says, interrupting Robin and I's conversation.

~Flashback~

"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman says, "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous illegal neurosteroid, a strength enhancing drug sold under the street name venom. Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of venom have been cut off. That's where this team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will." I stand with my teammates in the mission room, in my civvies with Batman giving us our first mission.

"The plan requires two drop zones," He continues.

"So who's in charge?" Robin asks. I can tell he's anxious to be in charge.  
Batman turns around from the screen and looks at Red Tornado, our den mother. They come to a silent agreement and Batman says,

"Work that out between you." Robin nods.

~End of Flashback~

"Drop zone A in 30," Ms. Martian says. Robin turns to Aqualad as he gets out of his seat. His chair disappears and he presses the symbol on his belt and turns his outfit into grey and black, instead of the usual colors. Stealth mode.

"Ready," Aqualad confirms.

"Putting Bioship in camouflage mode," Ms. M states. She puts the ship into camouflage mode as we near the island. A hole opens up on the floor of the ship and Aqualad dives through it into the ocean. With my enhanced sight, I see him land underwater and start swimming before the hole closes at Ms. M's command. Through my comm a few minutes later, I hear Aqualad say,

"Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in." We fly over were Aqualad stands and after we reach a clearing in the forest, M'gann says,

"Drop zone B." We all stand up and our chairs disappear. Megan makes cords for us and one drops down in front of me. I latch it onto my belt and then press my fox ring and my outfit turns to stealth mode. Kid Flash turns to M'gann and says,

"How cool is this?" referring to his stealth mode costume.

"Very impressive," She responds. She turns her outfit red and black and makes her cape have a hood.

"Uh, that works too," He says. He turns to Superboy and says,

"Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech."

"No capes, no tights. No offense," Superboy responds.

"None taken," I reply with a smirk.

"That doesn't count!" Kid yells at me.

"It totally works for you..." M'gann says dreamily.

"Oooh... someone's got a cruuuuush!" I point out with evil grin.

"You can't say anything Ms. 'Robin is so cute'!" Kid states, mocking me.

"Oh, like you weren't just calling dibs on Ms. M a few hours ago, Kid Mouth!" Robin and I both look at the floor and start blushing like crazy.

"In that you can totally do good work in those clothes," Ms. M says, trying to cover up her mistake. Superboy turns to face the front of the ship and smiles slightly. Ms. Martian quickly pulls her hood over her face and turns invisible. She opens a hatch and flies out silently. Robin, Kid Flash, and I go down using our ropes. When my feet touch the ground, I sigh in relief. 'Back on the ground, FINALLY!' I thought. I was enjoying my moment of relief until I looked up and saw Superboy coming down. Using my enhanced speed, I ran to the side and the team followed. Superboy landed with a BOOM and left a hole in the ground.

"Knew I didn't need a line," He said.

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert," Robin scolded.

"You almost squished us!" I exclaimed.

"Aqualad, Drop B is go," Ms. M said through the comm.

"Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP," Aqualad responds through the link.

"Roger that," Robin says while looking at the mini computer on his wrist. We all run into the forest. As we are walking, I hear rustling with my super hearing.

"Did you hear that?" Superboy asks.

"Yeah," I respond.

"Uh, no. Wait. Is this a super hearing thing?" Kid asks.

"You do have great ears," M'gann says to Superboy.

"Hello? I heard it too!" I whine to M'gann. She completely ignores me.

"Ok, Robin, now what?" I ask, turning to where he was standing. When he's not there, I start to worry. I start to freak out when Kid says,

"Man, I hate when he does that." Through the comm, Aqualad says,

"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared. See if you're being tracked." Kid puts on his goggles,

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming." Kid and Superboy run over to a rock, and look at where the squad is coming from, from over the rock.

"Two squads. But they'll meet eachother before they find us," Supey states. Suddenly, I hear rapid gunfire. M'gann gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

"No super hearing required now," Kid states.

"Swing wide, steer clear," Aqualad orders.

"I was planning on it," I say through the comm.

"Y-yeah, just as soon as I find Rob," Kid says. He jumps over the rock and runs away, using his super speed. I hear him trip and start falling down a hill right into the battle. The gunfire stops for a second. With my enhanced hearing I hear Kid say to himself,

"So much for the stealthy." The gunfire continues and I vaguely see Kid dodge the bullets. We all run after him and Superboy punches one of the thugs. The thugs pins him down and I jump into action, taking down the bad guys silently. They don't even realize I'm there. Superboy gets out of the grip and throws the bad guy at a nearby tree. Robin jumps down from a tree and takes out two thugs at once. I sigh in relief.

"What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?" While I'm sighing, a thug comes over and pins me down while choking me.

"FOX!" Robin yells in fright. I guess I would too if I turned around and my friend was suddenly being choked to death. Not much help for the already horrible covert thing we've got going on, though. Oh wait, I'm choking. Crap. He runs over to where I'm running out of breath and trying to elbow my way out in rage and kicks the guy who is choking me so hard, he knocks him out. I gasp frantically for air.

"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know," Kid says and turns to where Ms. M takes out two guys using telekinesis.

"Er, I'm not anyway," He says.

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," Megan tells Kid Flash.

"Are you okay, Fox?" Boy Wonder asks me, concerned. I cough a few times before I sputter out,

"Yeah." He turns around and one of the guys is running away. He pulls out a batarang and aims when Aqualad jumps in front of them and zaps them in the chest. While I catch my breath, the team binds the thugs up.

"I recognize those uniforms," Robin says.

"They belong to the cult of the Kobra," I finish for him. Everyone one looks at me.

"What? I watch the news," I say.

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's venom operation," Aqualad says.

"Agreed. And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and the goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out," Robin guessed.

"And that's why normal supply lines have been cut off," I finished his thought, again. Everyone looked at me again.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" I ask.

"It's just so cute how you finish his sentences," Megan stated. Robin and I blushed and looked at the ground.

"Awwww! Now they're blushing!" Kid says. I swear I'm going to kill him.

"That is beside the point," Aqualad says, trying to change the subject.

"We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time-" Kid Flash was interrupted by me saying,

"These cultists aren't on venom," I stated.

"Kobra's hording the stuff. We don't leave. Not until I know why," Robin finished. Everyone stared at us. Again. "WOULD YOU QUIT IT?!" I whisper-shouted. Kid Flash turned to Robin.

"Until _you_ know why?" he said.

"This team does need a leader," Robin points out, defending himself.

"And it's you? Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word," Kid says. Robin laughed.

"And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!" He said with a smile. I glanced over to the other members to see their stance. M'gann turned to Supey and said,

"Don't you want to lead?" He scoffed and shook his head.

"You?" He asked.

"After the Mr. Twister fiasco?" She said raising her hands up defensively. He smiled and said,

"You did alright." She blushed and looked down. I hear someone speaking in a foreign language, probably some kind of Spanish, based on the accent, and see that Supes has too. It's times like these I wish I had taken Spanish instead of French.

"Yeah? You don't even have super powers!" Kid yells at Robin.

"Neither does Batman," I point out, just wanting them both to shut their mouths. Honestly, anyone remembering the _covert_ part of this mission?

"Duh, he's not Batman," He states.

"Duh, closest thing we've got!" I whisper-shout again, careful not to alert the people in the facility of our presence, but still letting my childish side come out as I mock him. KF doesn't seem to hop on board with this. I'm starting to get really mad at Kid.

"Stay out of this, Fox. You wouldn't even have been on this team if Boy Wonder here hadn't invited you because he likes you!" Kid blurted out at me. That hurt. I'm not just some toy. I glared at him with a hurt look and turned away. I didn't really trust my voice and didn't want to cause any more tension or hurt. The goon with white and black on his face chuckles,

"Such clever ninos. But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance." Megan says,

"There is a secret entrance but he's also hiding something." She closes her eyes and attempts to read his mind when he says,

"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."

"Ohh. He's mentally reciting futball scores en Espanol. This could take a while," She says.

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend," 'Bane' says. We all look at eachother. Aqualad nods. Bane takes us to a cliff. He points to the factory ahead. Kid and Dick both walk to where he's pointing. I lag behind, suspicious and also quite angry with Kid.

"Look at all that product. A buy is going down," I vaguely hear Robin say. Bane starts to walk away. I follow him silently.

"But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then-" Robin continues.

"We need to identify the buyer," Aqualad says.

"Just what I was thinking," Kid comments.

"Yeah, you're the thinker," Dick says. I vaguely heard Kid say,

"Sarcasm? Dude. A real leader would focus on getting answers." I walk out of the shadows behind Bane as he's getting ready to lift up a boulder.

"Need some help with that?" I ask him. He turns around to look at me.

"You got super strength or something?" He says looking me up and down.

"Something like that," I respond with a smirk. He doesn't reply, just gives a small smirk and nods curtly. I pick up one side and together, we pick it up and move it out of the way to reveal a tunnel. By now, the team has turned towards us and the entrance.

"Answers are this way," Bane says, motioning to the tunnel. He walks in and I follow, the team right behind me.

"So, now El Luchador is our leader," Kid says. I see Robin out of the corner of my eye as he turns and smacks Kid Mouth on the back of the head. We reach the end and Bane presses his thumb on a screen and a door opens. He opens the door slightly and looks around with Robin.

"All clear," Dick says and runs out. We all walk out, wondering where Dick went.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane asks.

"No, he just does that that," I respond with a shrug.

"Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder," Kid says, putting his goggles on.

"Wait kid!" Aqualad whisper-shouted, but it was too late, he was gone. I feel like no one is really even trying to be quiet anymore.

"Great chain of command," Bane says sarcastically. We all look at eachother.

"This is going to be a long night," I say with a sigh. We all walk over to a crate and hide behind it, hidden from the cultists.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad points out.

"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line. They're not touching this venom," Supey says.

"Maybe freshness counts?" M'gann says. I hear helicopter blades in the distance.

"Helicopter's coming," I state. M'gann flies over to the helicopter. Supey, Aqualad, Bane, and I all run to a bridge overlooking the factory.

"Sportsmaster. He is the buyer?" Aqualad says. He says over the comm,

"Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?"

"Ugh. Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid. Comm's jammed. We need a plan, now," He says to us.

"I have a suggestion," Bane says, then jumps over the railing of the bridge, taking out two cultists. Oh, no. "What is he-" Aqualad started. He was interrupted by a roar as a green beast jumped through the glass ceiling above us. When he landed on the bridge, it collapsed under his weight. All of us hurtled towards the ground and my mind started buzzing with worry. I accidentally let out a rather loud yell,

"I DON'T LIKE HEIGHTS!" I landed in a roll and shot up in a fighting stance. I am never doing that again.

"Destroy them!" A voice said. I looked around the monster to see Kobra order it. The monster roared again and charged at us. Supey just charged right back. I didn't see his fight after that because some cultists cam charging at Aqualad and I. They started firing and Aqualad made a shield out of water and I had nothing. tried my best to doge them, which was extremely hard, even with my speed. I scanned the area and found a crate a few feet away. I pulled out a small throwing knife and threw it at someone's gun, causing it to make a small explosion and distract the rest of them. The goons were confused as I charged silently in the open and did a roundhouse kick right into one's face then feinted a left uppercut and kicked him where the sun don't shine. He doubled over in pain and I was about to take out another when they both flew up in the air and flew right into a pole. M'gann. I'd have to thank her later. I generally disliked close-combat and knew I would be drained soon. Suddenly, a sword-thing flew up in the air and exploded, revealing Ms. M falling onto a crate. Uh oh. I took out about four more thugs before I was surrounded. I just laughed at the bad position they put themselves into.

"Shoot. I dare you," I threatened. They supplied. As they all shot, I slid under one of their legs and all the bullets went into their fellow cultists. Idiots. I retreated behind a pole near Aqualad. I was this close || to being dead meat from some goons' guns when Kid Flash came and drop kicked them into unconsciousness. I didn't look at him but nodded, knowing he would see it, still angry with the lack of a filter between his brain and mouth.

"No problem," He replied sarcastically at my nonexistent thanks.

"Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!" Aqualad yelled.

 _'Everyone online?'_ Megan thought.

 _'Yeah.'_ Supey thought.

 _'You know it, beautiful,'_ Kid thought.

 _'Would you take one second to stop flirting and start fighting?'_ I thought angrily.

 _'Fine..'_ KF thought sadly.

 _'Good. We need to regroup,'_ Aqualad thought.

 _'Busy now,'_ Robin thought.

 _'Robin, now!'_ Aqualad thought. We were barely fending off the bad guys as it was. We needed help.

 _'Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path,'_ Aqualad ordered telepathically. We ran down the now empty alley and into the secret entrance Bane showed us. We kept running.

"Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad yelled. He took out the left beam with ease and then the left. We were in the dark so I took a flashlight off of my belt.

"Is everyone okay?" I ask as I turn on the flashlight. Robin already had a glowstick on. Hmm, I would have to consider getting one of those myself, it lights up a room much better than a flashlight.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin says.

"You do have the most experience. But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan," Aqualad explains.

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin asks, groaning. _'You can hold my hand anytime you want...'_ I thought to myself. I felt my eyes widen and then slapped myself. Everyone looked at me weirdly and I awkwardly chuckled. I saw Robin shoot me a glance and then turn serious,

"Ah, who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur. You're the only one who can." Kaldur? Must be Aqualad's name.

"Please! I can run circles-" KF started.

"Wally, come on. You know he's the one. We all do," Dick says. Wally? Must be KF's name.

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious," Megan says. Megan? Must be- Oh wait, I knew that.

"Could've told ya," Supes says.

"I think you would be an amazing leader, Aqualad," I state with a warm smile in his direction. He smiles back. Everyone looks at 'Wally'.

"Okay," He says.

"Then I will accept the burden," 'Kaldur' says, walking up to Dick and putting a hand on his shoulder. Robin smiled.

"Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon," 'Kaldur' states. Robin nods.

"Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island," 'Kaldur' starts.

"Funny, I had the same thought," Robin says.

"Sure. Same thought. Totally," I add sarcastically.

"Hey!" Dick says, hitting me lightly on the arm. I laughed shortly.

"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer. But it still doesn't track," I say as we're running down the exit.

"He doesn't have the juice to acquire the blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," Dick finishes for me.

"Say one thing and I'll knock you into next week," I say as Kid opens his mouth to speak. He shuts up.

"And neither of them have the chops to bond blockbuster with venom. That took some major nerdage," KF says.

"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg,'" Aqualad says as we reach the exit. All of the sudden, Bane steps into the doorway.

"Halt ninos. I'm feeling explosive," He says holding a detonator. I look up and see 5 bombs on the roof of our exit.

"You betrayed us. Why?" Kaldur asks.

"I knew it," I mutter to Robin.

"I want my factory back."

 _'Kid, you'll need a running head start.,_ 'Kaldur' thought. 'Wally' backed up a little.

"So, I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, The Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect," Bane says. He is about to press the button when it disappears.

"With what? This trigger thingy?" KF says, leaning against a tree. Bane is charging when Miss M lifts him into the air. Supey walks to her and says,

"Finally. Drop him." She lets go and Bane comes falling down, right into Superboy's waiting fist. We devise a plan and head back to the factory through the forest to where the helicopter is waiting to take off. Kid Flash runs out and takes out some goons.

"Take the shipment!" Kobra yells at Sportsmaster. I hear fighting start and some water goes flying past me. I run over away from them to Kobra and his right-hand. I take out Kobra's right hand woman within a few minutes as Robin says to Kobra,

"I know you hate getting you hands dirty." Kobra says,

"True. But sometimes, even a God must stop to conquer." I hear fighting as I finish my girl. I finally finish and tie her up to a nearby pole with some rope discarded on the ground. I run quickly to Robin and Kobra, trying to help him out. Robin lands in a sitting position as Kobra says,

"What's wrong, boy? You look disconcerted." I quickly run over to the shadows and disappear. I silently find my way behind Kobra. I charge at him and kick him square in the back. He doesn't see it coming and stumbles forward a bit, giving Robin a chance to kick him in the face. Sportsmaster's helicopter blows up in the distance. Kobra quickly recovers from the surprise and throws us both down, placing a foot on top of us.

"I am plagued by mosquitos," Kobra says.

"Good! 'Cause these mosquitos are mighty concerted over your PAIN!" Robin retorts.

"Nice one," I mutter to him, "But, was it necessary?" I roll out of his hold and flip over to my team, who is standing behind us, as Robin jump backwards to the team.

"Another time, then," Kobra says, backing into the shadows. I run to where he disappeared, Robin at my side, but he's nowhere to be seen. We both sigh and jog back over.

"We picked the right guy to lead. Automatically making you the right guy to explain this to Batman," Robin says to Aqualad and then laughs. I turn to him and we fist bump.

|Mount Justice  
|June 24, 11:00 p.m.

"A simple recon mission, observe and report. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job. No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character," Batman says. I smile. This might not have been such an epic fail.


	5. The Ball

Alex's POV

|Hunter Residence, Gotham City.  
|June 25, 8:00 a.m.

 _Dear Alexia Hunter,_  
 _You have been invited to the annual Wayne's Summer Ball. If you wish to attend, please RSVP as soon as possible to Bruce Wayne. -Insert phone number and email here- The ball will take place at the Wayne Manor on June 25. It will start at 6:00 p.m. and end 10:00 p.m. Dress formally. We hope to see you there._  
 _Sincerely,_  
 _Bruce Wayne._

That was at least my fifth time reading that letter. It was tonight. Only 10 hours and counting. I walk down the hall to the kitchen. When I step inside, I'm greeted by the smell of eggs and toast.

"Good morning Alex," Jason says sweetly. This is why I love my brothers; they aren't the slightest bit rude, annoying, or mean.

"Hey Alex! So, when are you going to start getting ready for the Wayne's Summer Ball?" Leo adds.

"Hey guys! I'm going to start getting ready around 4:30 to answer your question, Leo," I reply, grabbing some scrambled eggs and toast.

"Cool," Jason replies sincerely. After Jason, Leo, and I all finish our breakfasts, I head to my room and look at the clock. _9:00._ Suddenly, a thought hits me right in the face.

"Oh crap!" I exclaim to myself. I immediately pull out my phone and click on the messaging app.

 _Emergency shopping spree?_ I text to Barbara.  
 _You forgot to get a dress for the ball, didn't you?_ she texts back.  
 _Yep._  
 _Sure, meet me in 15 minutes at the mall?  
Sounds good. See you then.  
See you then, indeed._

I put my phone on my dresser and pull on some clothes as well as my new Robin necklace that I was hoping Dick would never see. I walk out of my room and into my big brother's room.

"Jason, I'm going shopping with Barbara. See you later," I tell him.

"See you later," He responds, looking up from his book. I grab my phone, wallet, and keys and put the phone and wallet in my pockets and put the keys on my belt loop. I go out the front door and start walking the short distance between my house and the mall. As I step outside, a black cat strolls up to me and rubs against my leg. I smile and reach down to pet it. I'm suddenly hit with an image of falling off of a tower with familiar laughing in the background. I jerk back onto my feet and shake it away. I think about the ball again and start on my way. I'm almost there when a crook jumps out from behind an alley and attempts to punch me. I dodge easily and decide that I have to keep up my role as a defenseless little girl. I start running away 'frantically' to the corner and look behind me. As I turn around, I see the sketchy figure throw a punch at my face. I, again, dodge easily and continue to run until I'm in the parking lot. By now I've lost him. I calmly walk into the mall and spot Barbara standing in line at Auntie Anne's. She gets to the front of the line and the worker hands her two cups of cinnamon bites. She turns around and sees me walk in. She pays the employee and runs over to me.

"Hey, Alex! I got you pretzels," She says and hands me the pretzels and continues with a smirk, "So, you really forgot to get a dress and remembered 9 hours beforehand. Smooth, real smooth Alex."

"Yep. Well, are we going to get me a dress or what?" I ask. Suddenly, I hear beeping with my enhanced hearing. I turn around and see a small bomb on a nearby plant.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" I scream. Everyone looks at me then crouches down. Not even a seconds later, it explodes.

"Are you okay?" I ask Barbara. She looks a little shaken, but unharmed.

"I'm fine. What about them?" She asks, pointing to a group of three moms and about five kids.

"I'll go check," I respond. I run over to them and crouch down next to one of the kids who is hiding under a chair.

"It's alright. You can come out now. No one's going to hurt you. You'll be fine, I promise," I say calmly. I grab her and gently pull her out from under the chair, handing her to her worried mom.

"Thank you so much. You've saved us all," The mom says as I hand her the little girl.

"Just wanted to help out," I reply.

"Is everyone okay?" I hear a familiar voice ask. I turn around to see the one and only, Boy Wonder. He spots the family without noticing me and walks over to help.

"Are you okay ma'am?" He asks the mom I just helped.

"Fine, thanks to this young lady," She responds, motioning to me. Robin turns to face me and I hide my face from him. He was totally going to pester me with questions if he knew I was here, so I didn't want him to know it was me.

"Thank you," He says to me, trying to see my face.

"Your welcome, I guess," I respond quietly. I'm getting up and heading over to Barbara when someone grabs my wrist. I turn around and see a concerned Robin.

"Alex?" He whispers to me.

 _'Dang it!'_ I thought.

"Yes?" I whisper back, trying to get out of his grip.

"Are you okay? Anything broken? Cut? Bruised? Swell-" I cut him off by saying,

"I'm fine. The bomb came from that plant over there. Probably to distract us and rob one of the stores. Go check it out. I can't help, gotta go dress shopping, if you know what I mean." I motion to where the plant used to be.

"You seriously forgot to get a dress? Wow. That is so something you would do," He responds, laughing.

"Shut up," I say and playfully slap his arm. He laughs and glances down at my necklace.

'Crap crap crap crap crap.' He smirks and points to it,

"Is that..? Alright, alright. Go. I'll see you later, ok?" He says, finally letting go of my wrist.

"Whatever.." I reply, as red as a tomato but still smiling. He smiles and I walk back over to Barbara.

"Alright, now, where were we? Ah! Dress shopping! Come on!" She says and starts pulling me by the wrist over to a nearby dress store. After at least 20 dresses and at least 15 'I hate this so much's from me, I found an amazing dress that fit me, and wasn't too expensive.

"I love it!" Barbara exclaimed.

"I do too! I think this is the one," I agree.

"Yay!" Barbara says enthusiastically. I walk over to the register and I'm about to give the dress to the employee when I recognize them as... Deadshot. I tell Barbara to hold my dress and lead her back to the dressing rooms.

"Stay here. If the person from the register comes over here, run. Got it?" I whisper to her confused face. I walk out of the store and into the girls' bathroom when I'm sure no one is looking. I walk into a stall and press my fox ring. My outfit changes into my Fox costume. I pull out my phone and dial Dick's number.

" _Hello?"_ He answers.

 _Hey! It's Fox. I found something. Meet me in Dazzling Dresses in costume in 5,"_ I reply.

" _Got it. Robin out,"_ He says and hangs up. I wait a few minutes until the clock on a nearby wall shows that it's been 4 minutes. I walk out and spot Robin running towards me.

"Civilians in there. Be careful. Also, I'm pretty sure Deadshot is posing as a store clerk. Add that to my list of things I never thought I'd say," I whisper to him.

"Got it. Let's go," He whispers back. He leads the way in and disappears into the shadows. I follow his lead and hide behind a rack of long strapless red gowns. I make my way over to the counter where Deadshot is helping a customer. It was quite a disturbing sight. I spot Robin on the other side and I nod 'yes' at him. He nods back and disappears. I hear laughing and smile.

 _'Only Robin would laugh before he attacks,'_ I think. I throw a smoke bomb out of my belt and he takes that opportunity to jump in and start attacking Deadshot. I grab the woman and lead her out of the fight. Robin delivers a punch to the unsuspecting criminal. I grab the two pieces of my staff out of their sheaths on my legs and connect them, smirking as I twirl it with two of my fingers.

"Just like old times," I mutter to myself. I take the staff and hit Deadshot right in the back of the head, knocking him out.

"You good?" I ask.

"Yeah. Guy couldn't land a punch to save his life," He responds, smiling.

"He should stick to guns then. Well, better call the cops to lock him up," I say and pull out my phone.

"Already done," Barbara says from behind me. Wait, Barbara? I turn around and there she is.

"Oh. Thanks," Dick says.

"No problem, my dad's the commissioner," She states.

"Alright. See you later, Boy Wonder," I tell Robin.

"Always a pleasure, Fox." We both salute and walk away, laughing our butts off. I run into the girls' bathroom when no one is looking and enter one of the cells. I press my ring and sigh. I walk out and run over to Barbara.

"Hey! Where were you?!" She asks, flustered.

"I had to go to the bathroom. Why?" I respond.

"Ok, that I get, but why did you warn me about the clerk?" She asks.

"He looked sketchy. _No one_ touches _my_ best friend," I respond. She seems skeptical for a second, but then lets it go after a long stare.

"Alright. So, how are we going to buy this dress if the clerk is 'gone?'" She asks, putting quotation marks in the air at the word gone. I fake a confused face and ask,

"What do you mean?" She answers with a,

"Fox and Robin came and took him out. Turns out he was Deadshot. Weird." I mouth 'o' and walk over to the register and open up the money slot.

"How much?" I ask, pulling out my wallet.

"$62." she replies. I take out a $50 and a few fives and get myself the correct amount of change.

"Like that."

After that, I went home and looked at my watch. _11:30._ I read a few books and went on tumblr until 1:30. I get bored and put my phone way. I see a black and red streak fly past my window and immediately I'm on guard in a defensive position. I creep up to the window silently and peer outside cautiously. I see Robin perched on a nearby fire escape. I decide to scare the crap out of him and press the fox on my ring, changing into my costume. I creep the window open and sneak onto my fire escape without a sound.

"Hey, Bird Brain," I say casually. He jumps at least a foot of the ground and whips his head around to see me lounging on the metal stairs.

"Don't you have a ball to get ready for?" I ask.

"Me? No. My dad? Oh yeah," He responds. I give a short chuckle.

"Cool. Want to come inside?" I ask.

"Sure. That your apartment?" He asks, pointing to my window sill.

"Yeah. You'd have to go around to the front door though. It's 3B. I'll meet you there," I tell him and he nods. I walk back into my room and transform into my casual clothes. I walk down the hallway and sit on the couch. The doorbell rings and I get up to get the door. I open up the door to reveal a smiling Dick looking at me.

"Hey! Anyone else home?" He asks as I let him in.

"Yeah, my brothers are here. Parents are out of town at the moment," I respond.

"Cool. Can I meet them?" He asks hopefully. I smiled liking that he wanted to meet them. It meant a lot.

"Sure. Jason! Leo! I want to introduce you to someone!" I yell across the house.

"Coming!" They yell back in unison. They both walk into the living room and Dick and I sit on a sofa across from them.

"Hey, I'm Dick. Nice to meet you," Dick says, holding his hand in front of Jason.

"Jason. Nice to meet you too," Jason says, shaking Dick's hand.

"I'm Leo!" Leo says energetically. That kid has got to learn how to pipe down his ADHD.

"Hi Leo!" Dick says with the same amount of energy.

"So where do you know Alexis from?" Jason asks.

"Well, we're secretly superheroes and we're on a sidekick team with some other people. Also, we use our secret unicorns as transportation," Dick says. We all burst out laughing.

"But, in all seriousness, we go to school together," I say.

"Cool!" Leo says. We all keep talking and after a while Jason and Leo leave to finish homework ** _. (Alexis is 13, Leo is 10, and Jason is 17.)_** The doorbell rings and Leo-from across the house-yells,

"Frank's here!" He runs over to the door and opens it to see Bruce Wayne at the door with a Chinese 10-year-old behind him.

"Hello. You must be Alexia. I've heard so much about you," Bruce says, walking in. I look at Dick and he is blushing furiously at the floor.

"That's me," I respond.

"Well, it was nice to meet you but I'm afraid Dick should be getting home now. Also, you should probably start getting ready for the ball," Bruce states. I look at my watch. _4:29_

"Oh Crap! Thank you, Mr. Wayne. Sorry Dick! See you later!" I say, hugging Dick and gently herding him out the door.

"Bye!" He says back before Bruce closes the door.

"Let's leave Alex alone," Leo says to the Chinese kid, Frank I think.

"Ok!" He responds and they rush down the hall into Leo's room. I run into my room and put on my dress and then start to do my hair. After I double check everything, I tell Jason where I'm going and he tells me to have fun. I walk out the front door and start walking down the familiar path from my house to the Wayne Manor.

"Hey! I'm on my way to the ball right now, would you like to walk with me Ms...?" A familiar voice says. I turn to the right to see the Kid Flash, or should I say, Wally West. I huffed quietly to myself and decided to let the quip that he made on the mission go. For now.

"Alexia. You're Wally right? Dick talks about you all the time," I say to him, starting to fall into step with the red-head. He stops abruptly and looks my in the eyes.

"Alexia Hunter?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?" I ask. He smirks and keeps walking,

"If you think Dick won't shut up about _me_ , you should hear him talk about _you._ " I blush and look at the floor.

"Well, it makes sense, considering I'm his date.." I say quietly, trailing off. If Wally had a drink, he would have spit it out.

"He actually asked you out? Go Dick!" Wally exclaims.

"Wow. You're loud. We're almost there," I say, pointing to the Wayne Manor in the distance.

"Sorry. So, how do know Dick?" He asks.

"We go to school together," I say. _I'm also on the same sidekick team as him. And you! You know, the usual standards._

"Cool. Dick and I have known eachother forever. I don't even remember how we met," He says. We step onto the sidewalk that leads to the front gate.

"I've been here a million times but it still amazes me how beautiful this place is," Wally says.

"Me too," I agree. I spot a figure standing by the front door in the distance waving frantically at Wally and I, and I easily, thanks to my super sight, recognize it as my favorite birdie, Robin. I wave back and point Dick out to Wally, who just squints his eyes in the distance then looks at me.

"I don't see anyone," He says, confused.

"Right there!" I say, pointing to the dot that is starting to take shape as a human, exasperated.

"Ohhh! I see him now. How did you know that was him?" He asks.

"The fact that he was waving like a crazy hobo at us helped," I say. Wally gave me a look that was both weirded out and amused.

"You remind me of someone I know, Alex," He says to me.

"Who?" I ask.

"No big deal. Just some girl on my.. soccer team," He spits out. I attempt to raise a single eyebrow but fail, so I just raise both of them.

"ALEX! WALLY! HEY!" Dick shouts at us from about 50 feet away.

"HI DICK!" Wally and I say in unison. _Creepy much?_

"Creepy much?" Dick says, voicing my thoughts. We all start laughing. As we near the mansion I take in all the decorations.

"Wow, it's beautiful," I say, staring at Wayne Manor in astonishment.

"Not as beautiful as you..." Dick mumbles so quietly that anyone without super hearing wouldn't be able to hear. I start blushing furiously and only then does he realize that I heard him and he also starts blushing like crazy.

"Ummm.. what's with all the blushing?" Wally asks awkwardly.

"Inside joke," Dick and I say at the same time and I feel my cheeks burning.

"Well, I'm going inside now, so you can either join me or continue staring at eachother," Wally says and starts to walk in. Only then do I realize that Dick and I have just been staring at eachother for like 5 minutes. We both snap out of it at the same time and hurry over to Wally.

"I thought you might want to come inside," Wally jokes.

"Yeah. Sorry about that by the way," I respond.

"No problem. I live to be the third wheel," He says and we all start laughing.

"So Dick, you said that you could invite 4 people, right?" I ask.

"I did. Why do you ask?" He responds.

"Who else did you invite?" I ask.

"Wally, obviously, my friend Roy Harper, and Barbara," He responds.

"Cool. So... what do you want to do?" I ask both boys standing on either side of me.

"Well, I don't know about you-" Wally started by I cut him off by singing,

"But I'm feeling 22! Sorry I had to. Go on." They both laughed and Wally continued,

"As I was saying, I need some food. I'll be by the snack bar if you need me. Bye!"

"Typical Wally," Dick said and I giggled.

"So what should we do?" I ask.

"I don't know, talk I guess. So today at the mall, were you buying a dress last minute because you forgot?" He asks.

"Maaaaayyyybeee..." I respond.

"Umm, it's nice," He says quietly.

"Thanks," I answer quietly. We sit there for a second, lost in the music and each other's eyes.

"It's so funny to know who Wally is when he hasn't got a clue about me," I say, giggling slightly.

"I know right, he's so clueless," Dick says.

"Would you like me to take your jacket, Miss?" A voice says behind me and I turn around to see Alfred.

"Alfred!" I say and hug him, "Yes, thank you." I hand my jacket to him and he walks away. I spot Barbara in the distance and say,

"I think Barbara's here."

"Where?" Dick asks.

"Over there! See! In the green dress!" I exclaim.

"Oh yeah, I see her, and Roy! Hey, Roy!" Dick says, beckoning a red-head over.

"Dick, hey! Long time, no see," He says smoothly.

"Hi. Roy Harper," He says and holds out his right hand to me. I shake it and say,

"Alexia Hunter, nice to meet you."

"Alex!" Barbara exclaims from behind a crowd of people right in front of me.

"Hey!" I say back. She makes her way through and hugs me.

"Hi!" She says and pulls off of me, turning to Richie-boy and hugging him too.

"Hi, Barbara," He says and she pulls apart and turns to Roy.

"Oh my gosh, Roy! It's been so long!" She says and hugs him too.

"So, where's Wally?" Roy asks.

"Eating, the usual," Birdbrain says. Roy nods and turns to Barbara as they catch up.

"So, can I have this dance?" Dick asks as the music starts, holding his hand out in front of him. I smile with an eyebrow quirked (FINALLY) and say,

"Why not?" I take his hand and he leads me to the dance floor. I put one hand on his shoulder and he puts one on my waist as we get ready for the ball to officially begin. I take his hand and we start dancing. Now, I've been taking dance classes since I was two, but I think Dick was better than me. After about five songs, we finally decided to sit down and relax. We walk back over to our friends, who have found and are sitting at a table, and plop down in chairs next to each other.

"So, how was the dancing?" Barbara whispers to me.

"I think he's better than me," I whisper back and we giggle. We all talk to eachother for about an hour and I learn many things about Roy Harper. After a while of me giggling about how stupid Wally is, I pull him aside where no one can see us or hear us.

"Wally, I know you're Kid Flash-" I say but I was interrupted by Wally saying,

"What?! Did Dick tell you?"

"No, actually _you_ told me. You see-" I was once again interrupted by Wally saying,

"Yeah right. _I_ didn't tell you. I barely know you!"

"Wally, stop interrupting me and listen! I know you a lot better than you think because I'm Fox. That's all I wanted to tell you. And, yes, Dick, or Robin, knows too," I say.

"Oh yeah, prove it," He says stubbornly. I sigh and press the fox on my ring, changing into my costume.

"Oh... well then... Listen, Fox, I'm sorry about how I acted on the mission." I sighed and smiled at him,

"It's fine. Now, why are we moping, let's get back to the party!" He grinned and we high-fived. I changed back into my dress and we walked over to our table again.

~Dick's POV~

"No! I'm not jealous, Roy! I know what they're doing! Alex told me before she left!" I say, frustrated at Roy, a.k.a. Red Arrow.

"Well, you never know, she could be ly-" He started but I interrupted him by saying,

"She would never lie to me! Don't you dare judge her, you barely know her!"

"Whatever. Are you planning on telling her about Robin?" He asks. My anger fades and I say,

"Nah, she already knows." He practically spit his drink on me and then composed himself and said,

"What do mean, she already knows?"

"I mean-" I start but I was cut off.

"You just met her! She could be a spy! She could be a snitch! She could be a clone and not even know it! She could be a bad guy! She could ev-" I spot Alex walking over and shushed Roy in the middle of his sentence.

"Fine. Be that way. I'll talk to her later," He says grimly.

"Alright. Do what you want. I trust her," I say.

"Fine," He says and Alex and Wally come over and sit down. Classic Roy.

~Alex's POV~

When we arrived at the table, Roy was eyeing me suspiciously and Dick was giving him a frustrated and angry look. Barbara was having a chat with Bruce Wayne at another table.

"So what were you doing?" Roy asks Wally and I, eyeing Dick with a look that I didn't like.

"Umm.. well, I was, you know-" Wally stutters helplessly. I cut him off and say,

"Wally here, was telling me the usual over-protective friend speech. Don't break his heart or I'll break your face, et cetera." Dick blushes bright red and Wally recovers and says,

"I did _not_ say that."

"You may as well have," I say with a smirk on my face.

"Can I talk to you, Alexia?" Roy asks.

"Yeah. By the way, you can just call me Alex, all my friends do, and we're friends so, Alex please?" I say.

"Fine," He says curtly and, as we walk over to where Wally and I where, I mock Roy's anger to Dick from behind the red-head's back. I hear him laugh and turn back around, satisfied with my work.

"So, you know about Robin?" He asks.

"Yep," I say, popping the 'p'.

"I'm going to guess that you do to, Speedy?" I say smugly. He looks as if he's been slapped in the face.

"How did you know about that? Wait. Dick told you, didn't he?" He asks, shocked.

"I didn't know, until you just now confirmed it for me. I had a suspicion though. I mean, if Wally is Kid Flash and Dick is Robin, Dick surely would've invited his other fellow former protege, other than Kaldur-who is visiting Atlantis-and I'm pretty sure Barbara isn't a dude. Also, you fit the height, hair color, body structure, and personality. It was pretty obvious if you ask me," I conclude, picking at my nails boredly to tick him off and he looks dumbfounded. He snaps out of it and his face of confusion is quickly replaced by one of anger.

"How can I trust you with all of that information? How do I know your not a spy?" He asks.

"Well, I'm one of you, of course!" I say.

"What?" He asks.

"I'm a superhero, although I don't have a mentor at the moment. We actually met once. The name's Fox. I'm on the team with Robin and Kid Mouth over there," I answer.

"Oh yeah, and I'm Superman. Prove it," He demands.

"No, you're Speedy, silly," I say smugly. He doesn't laugh. I sigh and press the ring for the second time tonight, transforming into my super costume. He looks taken aback for a moment and then slides back into his normal face.

"So, is this what you were talking to Wally about?" He asks.

"Yep," I say, popping the 'p' again. After we headed back to the table, all tension gone, we had a great time dancing, eating, and laughing until it was time to go home. Roy, Wally, and Barbara walked ahead of Dick and I and it seemed like they were all siblings with their red hair. I point that out to Richie-boy and he laughs. As we exited the Wayne Manor, Dick pulled me aside to say goodbye.

"So, I don't know ab- wait. I'm not going to say it. Anyway, I had a great time," He says. I giggle slightly and reply,

"Me too." We stare at each other for a while and my eyes flicker to his lips. We both slowly lean in and we are millimeters apart when we hear the door open and someone clears their throat, causing us to leap apart and look at the floor with red covering our faces. I look up slowly to see Bruce Wayne standing in front of us with an eyebrow raised. He looks at Dick, who is refusing to make eye contact with anyone, and then at me. Finally, I step forward and wave at him sheepishly while saying,

"Hi, Mr. Wayne."

"Ms. Hunter. I hope I didn't interrupt anything." I glance at Dick over my shoulder and he rubs the back of his neck while giving me a shy smile. Bruce says goodnight and I hug Dick quickly before putting my jacket on and giving them both a small wave. As I walked home, I couldn't help but remember what I was doing before Dick's dad walked out on us. Before I knew it, I was taking my key out of my jacket pocket and unlocking the door. I walk in while looking at my ring and turn to lock the door before I turn around to look at my home and freeze.

In front of me stand two metal chairs that obviously don't belong to me. The unusual thing about them isn't why they're here, but who sits in them. Bane comes out of the kitchen and stands behind the chairs that hold my beaten 10 and 17-year-old brothers. My instincts kick in and I situate myself so that I look nervous and scared but also so that I can reach my ring within a second.

"Why are you here? Who are you?" I say, deciding to pretend I don't know Bane so that he thinks he has the wrong person and lets my brothers go. I could honestly care less about my safety. Unfortunately, he sees right through my charade and laughs.

"Ha! Nice try, chica," He says and I flinch at the nickname. I want to scream at him to never call me a chica again, press my ring, and charge, but I know that there's no way I can take him without a) him hurting my family and b) by myself. I decide to drop the act and slip into a defensive position.

"Fine, you got me. But, really, I thought you were above taking random kids hostage. Especially ones that can't defend themselves," I say with a smug look and my eyebrows raised. He looks confused for a second, then realizes what I'm trying to do.

"Tsk tsk. Drop the act. I know what you are trying to do, Ms. Hunter. Or should I say, Fox." My eyes widen at my name and I give him my worst death glare.

"What do you want?" I ask, trying to slip my hand into my coat pocket discretely. He notices, however and tells my to hand my phone over. I scowl and toss it at him. He catches it and pockets it.

"Nice try, chica. Now, as you can see, I have your family. And, before you get happy because your parents are out of town, let me tell you something. That the meeting they went to? It was a trap. Don't try to resist or all of them die. You might be wondering why I'm doing this. Well, you will be doing whatever I say, without a second thought. Got it? Now, goodnight Ms. Hunter." The lights turn off suddenly and I blink a few times before grabbing the door knob for reference of where everything is. By the time I figure out where the chairs holding my brothers would be, the lights are back on and I'm alone in the house, no trace of Bane or my brothers. The only thing that's different is that my phone is on the ground where they stood and the window is open. I use my enhanced speed to sprint as fast as I can over to the window and they're not there. They're gone.

My family is gone and I can't tell anyone or they'll die. I glumly walk over to my phone and pick it up before walking to bed and changing before collapsing on my bed. My last thoughts are of my brothers' bloody bodies tied up to the uncomfortable metal chairs against their will before I fall asleep.


	6. The Aftermath

**(A/N Hello readers!** **It's come to my attention that some guests reviewing this story have mentioned my poor characterization skills. This is not me calling you out or sassing you, trust me. I'm fully aware that these chapters are FAR from perfection. I actually wrote all the chapters to this story out in sixth and seventh grade (yikes!) and I'm in high school now. There are quite a few plot holes that truly cannot be fixed without redoing the whole story arc. I assure you I really am not offended and actually quite pleased that you took the time to review and read my story (thank you!) but I will not be rewriting this story. This story is purely for recreation for me and I don't really intend on writing anymore than what's already done. To those leaving positive reviews, I'm not saying you have poor taste and it really means a lot to me that you enjoy some of my old fanfiction. Thank you again and read on, my lovelies!)**

~Alex's POV~

| Hunter Residence  
| August 3, 08:00 a.m.

I sat on the couch staring into the TV, longing to be there. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't. I couldn't risk Superboy's safety just because I _wanted_ to. That was selfish and would put my team in danger. So I just sat there, longingly watching as Superboy and Superman helped a bus off the edge of a collapsing bridge. I hadn't left my room or gone to school ever since I came home that fateful night after the ball. I decided to stop torturing myself and turned the TV off, curling into a ball in the empty house in which my family had once called home. I felt bad about not speaking to my teammates but... I was afraid. A single tear escaped my eye before I fell asleep.

 _My teammates were all standing in front of me, except for Robin. M'gann stepped forward with a face full of hatred and disgust. She didn't move her lips but I could hear her words echoing through my head._

 _So, you're too ashamed to show your face, huh? I guess it's because your such a coward." That stung. Next Superboy stepped into line with the same sneer._

 _"You were never as good as us." Aqualad joined them,_

 _"Who would want to be your friend? A weakling like you?" Kid Flash was last._

 _"I'm glad you never came back." When I was sure I couldn't handle anymore, Robin stood right in front of me._

 _"Who could ever even_ _ **think**_ _about liking you? You're just a pathetic little girl." RING, RING! Wait._

I shot up from the couch and looked around to see the house phone ringing. I sluggishly got up and walked to it, picking it up and answering with a monotone,

"Hunter Residence."

"Hola chica." That voice sent shivers down my spine. I was about to hang up when Bane said,

"If you hang up the phone, the mom gets it." I brought the phone back to my ear and looked through the windows for anyone watching me.

"Listen, señorita, you've been cooped up for too long. People are starting to get suspicious. So you're going to get back out there and explain to everyone that the reason you've been isolated is because your cousin in a different state passed away. And if you don't, well, you know what'll happen." I stared at the ground with fear for my family and, before I could process anything, the line went dead. I was now _very_ aware of how long it'd been since I showered. I quickly cleaned myself up and felt the refreshing _swoosh!_ as I pressed my fox ring and transformed into my Fox uniform. I locked the house up and hopped out of the open window.

The wind went through my ponytail and sent it flying above me as I descended quickly from the second story of my house. I landed in a roll and quickly ran out of it, making my way to the familiar telephone booth. I stepped inside and felt a wave of nostalgia hit me as a computer voice announced,

"Fox B-0-6." As I was transported, I thought about their reactions. I was only on the team for a little while... what if they don't remember me? What if they hate me for leaving? What if one of them was hurt while I was gone and I could've stopped it? Before I could think of another what if, the computer announced my name again and I stepped out of the beam sheepishly. Before I could even adjust to the lighting, a force knocked me over and squeezed the life out of me.

"Fox! I missed you _so_ much! Where did you go, anyway?" M'gann asked as she let go of me and pulled me to my feet. I beamed at my Martian friend and opened my mouth to respond when an arm was suddenly over my shoulders and Kid Flash was grinning at me.

"Heyo Foxy. Where've you been?" He asked. I looked past him and waved to Kaldur before spotting Robin standing completely still and staring at me in what looked like astonishment. He dropped whatever he was holding as I slipped out of KF's grasp. We both ran at each other and when we reached each other, he picked me up by my waist and spun me around before setting me down and squishing me in a bear hug while I just giggled and hugged back just as tightly. I pulled apart from him and smiled brightly at his comforting and familiar face. The feeling of safety I always felt around him returned and I was actually pretty happy Bane made me leave the house. The team crowded me and were asking questions a million words per second and I was having a hard time deciphering all of them when the computer announced Superboy's arrival. Everyone turned around and I hid behind Robin in fear of my dream and that Superboy would hate me. As he scowled at everyone and walked right through the holographic game of ping pong, I remembered him being ditched and basically cast aside by Superman. I took a deep breath, stepped out from behind Robin, Superboy noticing me immediately, and said,

"Don't let Superman get to you." He locked eyes with me and narrowed them slightly. What looked like relief seeped into his features and he relaxed his shoulders. He looked a little angry in all honesty. Then again, he always did. I smiled sheepishly while he walked over to me briskly. He put a hand on my shoulder and cracked the smallest but most sincere smile I had ever seen,

"It's good to have you back." I released the breath I didn't know I was holding. That is, until I heard footsteps coming from the tunnel next to us and spotted Martian Manhunter and Black Canary heading towards us.


	7. Back In Business, Baby

~Fox's POV~

|Litchfield County  
|August 3, 20:08 EDT

I sat on my motorcycle next to my teammates, waiting in the trees for the trucks to be loaded with the remains of this android. I threw on my helmet and revved the engine, earning a look that said, 'really?' from my Boy Wonder. I shrugged back and we sped away after the trucks as they pulled off the grass and onto the highway. Superboy, who was still angry, Robin, and I all sped off to the right. I followed the truck for a while before Robin sped up to ride between Superboy and I. I looked at him as he said,

"If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right." I giggled at him and whispered,

"Only Robin" to myself. Superboy stared ahead, glaring as if he had a grudge with the street. I wonder... I cleared my throat at Robin to gain his attention and nodded towards Superboy, who looked like he was about to throw a hissy fit.

"Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster," He said. I sent him a look and said,

"What's wrong?" He continued glaring at the road as he replied,

"Canary. And what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?" You looked at Robin as he spoke,

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman and well, me."

"And there's always more room to learn. I mean, take Robin. He's been doing this for what, 4 years now? And, man, he still sucks," You quipped, trying to lighten Supey's mood by insulting Robin.

"Hey!" Robin yelled, "Not cool, dude, not cool." You smiled brightly and looked over to see a ghost of a smile pass Supey's features. It vanished quickly when you creepy mechanic laughing and turned to see a bunch of robot monkeys headed towards the truck in front of you. A few seconds, you heard Aqualad speak in the comm,

 _"Robin, Fox, Superboy. Our truck is under attack."_ I reached up to my ear and said back,

"Kind of figured." Robin made a pouty face at me and said,

"Beat me to it." Conner glared at the truck and said, "I hate monkeys." Robin looked ahead as the robots attacked the truck and proclaimed,

"Robot monkeys," he paused to laugh, "Totally Ivo's tweaked style." I smiled and pressed the button on my bike, making it split in two as one part flew in the air and started shooting at the robots. I glanced to the side to see Robin doing the same thing. Birdbrain chided Superboy to do the same thing at which Superboy refused and jumped off his bike. It skid to ours and was about to run me over before I felt an arm grab me by the waist and Robin pulled me to him as he shot his hook on the back of the truck. I sighed in relief and thanked him before he gave me a boost and I landed on the roof with a _thud_. A monkey flew at me and I expertly dodged it before leaning down and picking Robin on top of the vehicle. Our battle mode bike were destroyed by the monkeys and we watched as Superboy was shot in the eyes and grabbed, four robots pulling him into the air. He yelled as they dropped him and I sighed before going back to fighting off the robots. We both pulled out our eskrima sticks at the same time and he kept his separate, taking out the monkeys one by one while I quickly connected mine, spinning it menacingly at any monkey that dared to come my way. We soon cleared the top but more came. Superboy returned and landed near us, ripping of the monkeys that clung to him. The car suddenly swerved and I fell into Robin's arms with a,

"Woah!" He stared at me with wide eyes before I nodded and leaped off the top, rolling in the grass and wincing as I felt the bruises already forming. I vaguely heard him yell at the driver and a body landed next to me, groaning. I sat up, clutching my head and saw Robin next to me, slowly getting up. We watched for a second as the trucked rolled and grabbed the driver on both sides. We nodded at each other and hoisted him up, emerging from the cornstalks just in time to see the monkeys flying away with the parts. We set him down and behind me, I heard Superboy roar in anger before pushing the truck off him. He watched the monkeys and then jumped after him.

"Superboy!" Robin and I yelled at the same time. He didn't listen.

 _"Aqualad to Robin. We lost our cargo. Did you-"_ We shared a look before he pressed the comm and said,

"It's gone." I reached up and did the same, saying,

"And so is our partner." We listened to Aqualad try to talk some sense into Superboy and, when he didn't respond, Robin said,

"I think he ditched his comm." We listened again to them bickering about not being about to track anything when Robin said,

"Maybe we do." I cocked my head to the side in confusion as he stepped over to a destroyed monkey and pulled out a wire from his glove. I walked over to him and crouched next to him. He plugged it into the monkey and said,

"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked. So, how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?" He pulled up a glowing map from his wrist and said,

"Ha! The parts have GPS. The monkeys can track the signal." I caught on and asked,

"Which means you can track the one we captured?" He grinned and nodded at me before looking back at the hologram and declaring,

"It looks like both sets of parts are converging on... Gotham City." We shared a look of concern and worry for our hometown. I set my jaw and decided that they were not messing with me on my home turf.

 _"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there anytime soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out."_ Oh, joy. Robin picked up the monkey and pressed something on his glove making his bike turn on and drive to him. I frowned as I remembered what happened to mine. I glanced at him and he was a little red as he spoke,

"I-uh... I need to change..." I went crimson and bolted to behind the car. I quickly pressed my ring and was exhilarated when I felt the familiar feeling of my Fox alias. I sat down, deciding that this may take a while. I was right. Five minutes later, Robin came around the corner with his usual impish grin and said,

"Come on." I smirked back and jumped up from my spot on the ground. I followed him and as he got on his bike I sighed and said,

"Wait. Superboy took out my bike." His grin grew as he scooted forward a bit on his and said,

"Hop on." I was taken aback for a moment before I jogged over to him and said,

"At least take me to dinner first." He turned while I slid my helmet back on and smugly smiled at me saying,

"Oh, trust me, I plan to." I kept my grin and felt my cheeks heating up before he turned and revved the engine. He sped forward and I let out a little yelp before throwing my arms around his stomach and pressing my face to his back with my eyes closed tightly. I could feel him laughing and lightly smacked him in the back saying,

"Can it." A little while later of me holding onto Robin, ( _SWOON_ ) I heard a swish from a while back and a few seconds later, Kid was running next to us. He grinned cheekily at me before turning to Robin and saying,

"Nice, dude." Luckily, I was just close enough to smack him upside the head. I felt Robin laugh again and say,

"You deserved that one, Kid." He grumbled something to himself. I glanced at him and said,

"So, you changed too?" Kid shivered and said,

"Ugh, are you kidding? I feel naked in civvies. You still tracking the parts?" Robin looked to the side at KF,

"They were headed through Gotham, but they veered." That's never good. Maybe Supey caught up to them. I felt Robin nudge me and looked at him as he said,

"Wait, Alex, they're at our school." My eyes widened in shock and I said,

"Uh uh, honey. Not today." They both looked at me with a 'really' face and shrugged the best I could. We sped forward and arrived outside. As we ran through the halls toward the gym, we passed my locker, which was wide open and the door was slightly bent. All you could see were a few books and my spare Fox outfit luckily. I stopped and frowned, trying to close it, but it was too broken.

"Dang it.." I mumbled to myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to Robin, who had a reassuring smile. I nodded and we kept running. Kid was already on the other side and we all ran into the gym. Conner was being beaten and on the floor when KF ran past him and grabbed him with a _Yoink!_ I stifled a laugh and then got serious again. Robin threw some of his discs at Amazo but it didn't work too well as he shifted his density and they went through him. He came at us with a Tornado and I grabbed Robin and leapt to the side. We still got some of the blast but not as much. We were sent flying into the bleachers. Kid was being cornered and I pulled a small explosive out of my belt and threw it at the robot. He turned to me and said,

"Access Black Canary." Uh oh. I flipped out of the way just in time and landed on my butt on the floor.

"Ouchy." KF was behind me and I flew into him as he sent another sonic scream at us. He deflected Supey's punch and sent him flying. Robin got up and sent more discs at him but he made his arms long and deflected them before swinging at Robin. I growled and got up, pulling KF up as well, and connected my bo staff. I charged towards Amazo but before I could help KF, an arrow came flying at him and he phased through it, letting Kid go as well. I snapped my head in the direction it came from and saw a flash of blonde hair before they were gone. I ran to him with a yell and barely deflected a punch with my staff before trying to sweep his legs out from under him. He simply stood still and I realized why as I cried out in pain from the impact. Note to self: Don't kick metal. I looked away from my leg with wide eyes as he said,

"Access Black Canary" and flipped me over his shoulder and into the bleachers again. Superboy charged and got thrown near me as Robin sent more discs towards Amazo. The robot turned to Robin and my eyes widened as I shot up, ignoring the pain in my leg and pulled Robin away just as red beams shot where he was just standing. We fell to the side of the bleachers and I shut my eyes. I groaned and grabbed my head, propping myself up with my other elbow. As I opened my eyes, a wild hand appeared in front of me. It belonged to Robin. I gratefully took it and he pulled me up easily.

"Thanks. For both times, I mean," He said and we smiled at each other before turning around to face Ivo as he spoke,

"Ugh, yawn. Normally Amazo would copy and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals." The MONQI's laughed and I leaned over and whispered,

"I don't even have a person to be a 'copy' of." Robin smiled at me and we both looked back as Superboy said,

"So everyone keeps saying. It makes me angry!" He jumped at Ivo and KF sped over to us, saying,

"Great. He's gone ballistic again."

"Maybe not," I started. Robin and I shared a look before he got what I was saying and finished,

"Anyone want to play keep-away?" He ran from behind Ivo and kicked him out of the MONQI's hands. KF flashed towards him, shouting,

"Me, me!" He was sent into the air and, before I had time to move, he crashed on top of me. Robin threw more discs at him and he phased through them. Before he could go back, Superboy's hand was in his head. It exploded and the rest of his body crashed to the ground. Kid and I got up and limped over.

"Help me disassemble him now!" Robin said. I mentally groaned and plopped myself next to him. I looked over at KF when he said,

"Dude, the guy has no head." I laughed for a second until Aqualad and Miss M appeared and Aqualad said,

"Don't take any chances." Miss M flew to Superboy and helped him up, asking,

"Superboy, are you alright?" He said back,

"I'm fine. Feeling the aster." I turned and beamed at Superboy and then glanced at Robin before trying to help with Amazo. Heavy on the trying. I have like, zero skills with mechanics so I basically just handed him the tools. We were all snapped out of our thoughts as Kid said, "Hey! Where's Ivo?" We all looked around and I groaned again, giving up on sitting and fell on my back,

"Bats is going to _kill_ us." A little while later, we were all telling the Leaguers about what happened. I stood between Kid and Robin and silently listened as Aqualad described everything. I can't really say what anyone said because I just zoned out. I was snapped back into reality when Kid nudged me as Batman stepped forward and said,

"Your ability to handle them has impressed the League." Superboy spoke up,

"The whole league?" Yep, you're absolutely right if you guessed that I tuned everything back out. That is, until Robin spoke up in front of me. I looked up and listened as he said,

"Please. If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask. Look familiar?" he pulled out the arrow from the battle,

"You were following us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us." Green Arrow stepped forward and inspected it, pulling out one of his own. They were different.

"We didn't follow you," Batman stated. Robin had a look of realization and said,

"And that's not your arrow, But that means-" Kid cuts him off with,

"Speedy!" Aqualad smiled and said,

"He has our backs." They all walked to the leaguers and KF grabbed the arrow saying,

"Souvenir!" I noticed GA and Batsy exchange a look and Superboy walked over to Black Canary. I could have listened but I'm kind of lazy so I just awkwardly stood with M'gann. Both of us not knowing where to stand. I had finally gotten used to the zeta beams and as I was leaving, I typed in the coordinates myself. It announced my name and I stepped through back into Gotham. I was walking out of the alley when the booth lit up again and Robin ran out. He looked around and spotted me, frozen in my spot. He sighed and walked over to me.

"Fox!" I strained a smile, just wanting to go home, let my leg heal, and not have to lie to all my friends. He noticed and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Where were you?" I sighed and looked down at the ground, spreading my arms apart a little. He walked forward and enveloped me in a comforting hug. I held him tightly and nuzzled my head into his shoulder.

"Are.. are you okay?" He asked with concern laced into his voice. I shook my head in his shoulder and said with a small voice,

"No." He hugs me tighter and starts to let go. I frown. He was quite comfortable.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I think for a second, then slowly nod my head at him.

"Ok." He looks around for a place to talk freely. After a moment of hesitation, I pipe up,

"We.. we can go back to my place." He looks at me with worry and then nods. I start to limp there when I feel hands sweep me off my feet. I can't help the squeal that comes out as Robin picks me up bridal style and runs off to my house. My bad mood quickly fades and I let out a laugh as we leap from rooftop to rooftop. Robin smiles down at me and lands on the fire escape outside of my window.

"Who's home?" He asks me. My smile drops and he notices. I feel a tear fall down my face and I whisper, "No one." Bane's warning flashes through my head and I remember I can't tell Dick anything otherwise my family will die. Robin set me down slowly and opened the window. He crawled in and held a hand out for me. I made eye contact with him for a second and then took his hand. He pulled me inside and closed the window. I watched as he took of his mask and I pressed my ring. I needed him to know about Bane but I couldn't flat out tell him and showing him might be risky as well. Well, I knew Robin kept tabs on his friends and we were pretty close so I hoped he kept one on me and hoped he would check my story.

"My cousin, Percy Hunter, lived in England and he just died of cancer the day after the ball. Percy and I were really close and my family flew from that airport downtown over there for the memorial. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone where I went."

~Dick's POV~

I helped Alex in and closed the window behind her. I took off my mask and watched as Alex pressed her ring she always wore, transforming into day clothes. So, that's how she does it... We sat on the edge of her bed and she thought for a moment. It didn't look like she was upset, but almost like she was calculating something. She glanced out the window suspiciously and then locked eyes with me. Why was she looking at me like that? Finally, she spoke.

"My cousin, Percy Hunter, lived in England," _I just met him. He lives in Long Island..._ "and he just died of cancer," _He seemed perfectly fit to me..._ "the day after the ball." _Something happened after the ball._ "Percy and I were really close and my family flew," _She never left the house_ "from that airport downtown," _I will have to check that out later_ "over there for the memorial. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone where I went." The entire time she was talking she was pleading for help with her eyes. It hit me like a brick. She was being blackmailed. I went along with it and placed my hand over hers.

~Alex's POV~

Dicks eyes widened just the slightest and he faked sympathy. He placed his hand over mine and the blush that covered our faces was _definitely_ real.

"It's going to be alright, Alex. I'm here." I decided to use the situation to my benefit and hugged him again. I whispered in his ear,

"Has anyone ever told you that you give wonderful hugs? Because they wouldn't be lying." He laughed and we split apart.

"Thank you," I said and he winked before saying,

"See you tomorrow."


	8. Beach Day Gone Bad

~Alex's POV~

|Mount Justice  
|August 8, 09:58 EDT

I walked out onto the beach in my new bathing suit with Dick, M'gann, Kaldur, and Supey. M'gann ran ahead with her body board and exclaimed,

"Hello Megan! We should hit the beach every day!" Dick stopped and put his hand to his head, saying,

"First, a moment of silence for our absent comrade." I stifled a laugh and watched as M'gann looked down and said,

"Poor Wally."

"Alright, alright. Moment's over, let's go!" I yelled and flicked off my shoes, running into the water. I felt a presence beside me as I ran. Dick ran at my pace and then pulled forward and said,

"Race ya!"

"Oh no you don't Boy Wonder!" I used my enhanced speed and ran ahead giving him a mock salute as I easily passed him. He smiled and said,

"Hey, that's cheating!"

"You're just mad you didn't think of it first!" I yelled back and threw myself in the water. The rest of the team, excluding Wally, ran after us and we splashed around. Supey canon-balled and it sent water everywhere. We all laughed and ran back to the sand, where we all ate our hot dogs happily. I watched and laughed as Dick ate his right off the fork. He pulled out the volleyball and we all grinned. It was me, Kaldur, and Dick versus M'gann and Supey. We had fun with that for a while and our team totally crushed theirs. No one cared though because we were all happy.

"Hey! Let's bury someone!" I exclaimed mischievously. It backfired as Dick said,

"Okay. Lay down." My eyes widened and I ran away yelling,

"I didn't mean me! Abort! Abort!" Eventually he caught me and a, few minutes later, I was laying on the sand as Dick, Supey, Kaldur, and M'gann happily buried me. I stuck my tongue out at Dick and he flicked sand at me. I spit it out and sent him a playful glare, saying,

"Butthole." As it was getting dark and several pictures had been taken of me being buried, we all headed inside. I felt bad that I had to wear sunglasses the entire time and that almost no one knew my identity but I knew it was better that way. A few hours later, I was sparring with Robin, when the computer announced the arrival of Green Arrow and someone named Artemis. As we all got there, Batman spoke up,

"Team, this is Artemis. That arrow you found, it was hers." She stood up straighter. We didn't get too far into introductions before the computer announced Kid's arrival and he ran through with a bunch of beach stuff and his bathing suit, his nose was white from sunscreen.

"The Wall-Man is here! Now, let's get this party star-" And then... he tripped. I snorted and burst out laughing, earning some looks from the leaguers. He looked at us over his lopsided sunglasses and finished,

"...ted." I stopped laughing when Robin elbowed me in the side.

"Wall-Man, huh? I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?" I snickered and this time he actually punched me in the shoulder. As Wally asked us who Artemis was, I mouthed, 'sorry' to Robin. Before he could respond, Artemis proclaimed,

"Artemis, your new teammate." Wally gave a fake smile and retorted,

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you." Green Arrow interrupted by saying,

"Um, she's my new protégé." Kid spluttered out,

"What happened to your old one?!" The computer announced said former protégé's arrival. He walked out and proclaimed,

"Well, for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore." I sighed in relief. That was the derpiest name, I'm so glad he changed it. Oh, also, diva much?

"Call me Red Arrow." I was kind of done with him at this point and slowly clapped,

"Nice entrance, Miss America." He glared at me and I stared back with a challenging look. Before I could rip his head off, Green Arrow stepped forward,

"Roy. You look-"

"Replaceable," He finished and stepped up to him. I smelt drama in the air.

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo." I scoffed quietly and crossed my arms. I could feel eyes on me and turned to Robin, who looked torn. We had a mini conversation with our eyes.

'What?'

'Why are you being like that to Red?'

'He's being a total drama queen.'

'No, he's not.'

'Fine. If it bothers you so much, I'll just stop.' Robin sighed out loud. I scoffed and turned away from him.

"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?" Red taunted. Artemis stepped forward and said,

"Yes, _she_ can." You go Artemis. Wally asked again,

"Who are you?" Both green archers turned and said,

"I'm his niece."

"She's my niece." at the same time. Huh, I don't think so. Beside me, Robin said,

"Huh, another niece." Kaldur stepped forward,

"But she is not your replacement. We have always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers. Kid spoke up again,

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick." I smacked him upside the head and said,

"Filter, Wally. Use it." Artemis smiled at me and said,

"Whatever, Baywatch. I'm here to stay." Oh yeah, I like her on the team. Aqualad stopped Red from leaving,

"You came to us for a reason."

"Yeah, a reason name Dr. Serling Roquette." I heard Robin stiffen at that name and then he went into genius mode, pulling up the computer from his wrist and saying,

"Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City. Vanished two weeks ago." Red corrected him,

" _Abducted_ two weeks ago by the League of Shadows."

"Woah. You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?" KF, Robin, and Miss M all stepped forward, leaving me standing behind, facing the other way, and I vaguely heard Robin and Kid fist bumping and Kid saying,

"Hard-core." Footsteps walked away and I concluded they were Red's when his voice was farther away as he spoke,

"I've already rescued her. Only one problem. The Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it 'The Fog.' Comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path- concrete, steel, flesh, bone. But it's true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen intel to The Shadows, providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science, and tech." Artemis interrupted,

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power-broking. Yeah, sounds like The Shadows." Kid spoke up sarcastically, "Like you know anything about the shadows." I heard shuffling and assumed she turned to him and he asked again,

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Red spoke up,

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the fog inert." Robin apparently realized something and piped up,

"But, if The Shadows know she can do that..." I kept my back to Robin and declared,

"They'll target her." I made eye contact with Red and we made a temporary truce. He then started,

"She's off the grid, I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab." GA asked incredulously,

"You left her alone?" Red declared,

"She's safe enough for now."

"Then let's, you and I, keep her that way."

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?" I heard footsteps and then someone put their hand on someone's shoulder.

"You brought this to the team. It's their mission. Which means it's hers now, too," GA declared. Red scoffed as footsteps got louder,

"Then my job's done." The computer announced his departure and he updated it before he stormed away, probably to throw a temper tantrum somewhere.

~Time Skip brought to you by my laziness~

I stood outside of the high school with Supey and Miss M. I was watching intently around the perimeter I had to keep around Dr. Roquette. I felt my mind being linked and heard Miss M ask,

' _Everyone online?'_

 _'Ohh, this is weird.'_ Artemis.

 _'And distracting. Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less ram than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen-think in my skull?'_ Dr. Roquette.

 _Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?'_ KF

 _'Pot, kettle. Have you met?'_ Artemis. I snickered and thought,

 _'I like you already.'_

 _'Hey, hey, I do not need attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the team.'_ KF

 _'That is so not on me.'_ Artemis.

 _'Fate of the world at stake.'_ Dr. R.

 _'She started it.'_ Ugh KF.

 _'Listen, Artemis can come help with perimeter, where people value her opinion,'_ I directed that part more at Robin, _'And Kid can shut his mouth so Dr. Roquette can focus.'_

 _'Good idea.'_ Aqualad.

 _'Thank you. Someone understands.'_ Dr. R. I spotted Artemis walk out and said through the link,

 _'Look up.'_ She did so and I waved her over. She shot a grabbling arrow and pulled herself on the roof next to me. I held my hand out to her,

"The name's Fox. Sorry about Kid Mouth, he doesn't have a filter. You should've seen how he was to _me_ on my first mission. Told me the only reason I was on the team was because... someone had a crush on me. Wouldn't talk to him for days." She laughed and shook my hand back. We stood guard for a while in comfortable silence before we heard talking in the mind link. My heart skipped a beat when I realized it was Robin and then our conversation surfaced and I huffed. That is, until I heard what he said,

' _You might cut her some slack. It was her arrow that saved your butt against Amazo.'_

 _'What? No, that was Speedy's- I mean Red Arrow's, right?'_ KF

 _'Not so much.'_ Robin

 _'Humph. Well, still not giving her the satisfaction.'_ Artemis and I exchanged a look before she thought,

 _You know, I can still hear you.'_ I vaguely heard KF yell and then Dr. R thought,

 _'I couldn't get the Justice League.'_ I tuned out the rest of Dr. R's pestering until she announced that she was tracking the fog. I watched in much more alert as Superboy did a sweep on the ground. I heard leaves rustling and thought to Supey,

 _'Did you hear that?'_

 _'Yeah, checking now... nothing, coming to you.'_

 _'Got it.'_ I felt him jump and watched as he landed near Miss M, Artemis, and I. I had to physically stop a laugh as I heard from Artemis,

 _'Mm, that boy.'_

 _'He can hear you. We can_ all _you.'_ M'gann.

 _'Uh oh.'_ That one was me.

 _'Oh, I know.'_ Artemis. I sent her a look that said, 'was that necessary?' She shrugged and we all listened as Aqualad spoke,

 _'Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the fog. Reconfigure the Bioship so that Robin, Fox, and Superboy can pursue.'_ Miss Martian raised her arm and the Bioship flew to us. I placed a hand on Artemis's shoulder and mouthed, 'good luck' before Ms M declared that it was ready and the three of us ran into the ship. The door closed behind us and I took my usual seat in the front, having to strap myself in and Robin took the controls, flying off towards the coordinates Kaldur gave us. I decided to let go of my anger towards Robin and focus on the mission. We flew to Philadelphia and as we got there, Supey and I heard a building crumbling. I looked at him for confirmation and he nodded so I looked to Robin,

"Robin, over there." I pointed to where the sound was coming from. He finished tracking the Fog and was headed in that direction anyway. As we neared it, I gasped. Robin pressed his comm and spoke,

"Robin to Aqualad. We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target. Star Labs. We're too late. It's destroyed. Totally destroyed. The Fog decimated it. This is bad. Star Labs is cutting-edge science, and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy. What's our next move?" I heard Kaldur say,

"Rescan for that Fog. Find it. We're moving the doctor." We got the location and started on our way there. As we got to the building, I gasped and spoke,

"The next target's a WayneTech facility." Robin continued,

"In theory, its systems software could be used to hack the..." We made eye contact as Conner asked,

"The what?" I shook my head and said,

"Doesn't matter."

"Wh-what matters is WayneTech operates a 24-hour workforce," My eyes widened in realization and I exclaimed,

"We'll never evacuate the building in time!" Robin opened the hatch and Supey and I stood waiting for the virus to come through. Robin pulled up the computer on his wrist and said,

"It's downloading." Supey looked down and watched something intently so I followed his gaze. A truck was parked nearby and as the door slid open, I saw a bad guy (What? I can't remember everyone's names!) pull out the Fog. Superboy said,

"Don't need it," and jumped down to them. Robin yelled after him. I sighed and said,

"It's always us." A blast knocked him out of the air and the dude let out the fog.

"NO!" Robin and I yelled at the same time. He grabbed me and shot a cable, swinging over to the building. We ran in through the newly created hole and the security officer yelled at us. He locked down the building and a gate started lowering in front of us.

"WayneTech override- Archie 4." It went back up and Robin rolled under while I slid and we quickly began running again. The Fog snaked around the building as we chased after it. We came to a cafeteria and I followed as Robin took a sharp turn into it. He hooked a chord into a register and said,

"Please be linked to the mainframe. Please be linked to the mainframe." The girl at the counter asked,

"What's goin' on? What are you doin'?" I answered,

"Something's attacking the building. We're here to help. For now, I need you to leave the premise as soon as possible. Go!" She nodded and ran out. The bar on Robin's computer filled up and I turned as the hologram changed to red. The virus took affect and the fog turned red and dissipated.

"Yes! The infiltrators have been outfiltrated." We high-fived and radioed Kaldur while running outside in time to see that one bad guy get KOed. We all got back in the Bioship and met the team at The Cave. I walked over to Artemis and cleared my throat, making her turn around. She turned and smiled at me.

"Hey," She said and I smirked and said,

"Hey yourself. I heard about how you did." Her smile dropped a little until I finished,

"Nice work. And, just wanted to let you know, Kid Mouth blew our cover first chance he got on his first mission. Nice to have you on the team. See ya later." I waved over my shoulder as I turned and walked to the zeta tube. I was stopped when Robin called out to me. I really couldn't stay mad at him no matter how hard I tried. I stopped and took a deep breath before turning. He jogged over to me and we fell into step together.

"Going home?" I gave him a small smile and nodded. His smile got bigger and he asked,

"Mind if I join you?"

"As long as you don't pick me up out of nowhere again." He grinned cheekily and said,

"Wait, you mean... like this?" Before I had time to comprehend what he said, he picked me up and ran through the zeta tube, back to Gotham. I tumbled out of his arms and onto the pavement and he also fell. I laughed and landed on my back. He caught himself directly over me. As we both finished laughing, I stared at his mask were his eyes would be. He stared right back. I flickered my gaze down to his lips. I looked back at his mask and reached towards it. He didn't resist as I looked around and then pulled it off. I'd forgotten over the time I was gone how much I loved those eyes. They were the color that you could just swim through. I held his gaze and whispered,

"You have beautiful eyes." I looked back down to his lips again and closed my eyes, leaning in slightly. I could hear his heartbeat speed up and knew mine was doing the same. I felt him leaning and I brought a hand up to his cheek. Our lips were millimeters apart now and I could already feel his breath on my skin. That is, until heard a footstep to our left.

"Hold up. Someone's there," I whispered and lingered right in the same place so the person wouldn't know I noticed them. I picked up Robin's mask and slid it under his hand discreetly.

"You'll need this, Boy Wonder," I whispered again and slid half of my staff out of its sheath,

"I need a distraction."

"Will this do?" He whispered back and I was about to ask what when our lips connected and fireworks went off inside me. I was too shocked to respond for a second before I kissed back. I could feel Robin smiling into the kiss. I laughed slightly and wrapped the arm cupping his face around his neck instead, pulling him closer. I gripped the staff firmly and whispered,

"Now." Robin leapt up and turned away from the person, quickly putting on his mask while I rolled onto one knee with my staff poised and declared,

"Who's there?" A figure presented itself and said,

"You know, an alley isn't the best place for a make out session." As she stepped into the light, Catwoman looked at Robin and then me. Her expression changed from amused to shocked as she saw me. Her face could only be rivalled by mine, which was me gaping with my eyebrows raised and my eyes wide open. At the same time, Selina and I said,

"Selina?"

"Chaton?"


End file.
